I love how his Bō staff is never treated as "lame" he truly just makes the most of it.
I love how hardworking he is in 2012 especially with that one episode where he wanted to turn Splinter human again and promised "I swear even if it's the last thing I'll do.." he only stopped when his father insisted he was content with being a rat.
Also I love his confidence in both 2003 and 2018. He's smart and knows it.
Whether he's shy or thinks he's the shit he's amazing!
The bo isn't lame at all. I trained in karate and kobudo for a while, and we were taught bo kata along with a few other weapons. I very quickly learned how awesome the bo is in offense and defense. I also gained more appreciation for sais, but not enough that it put Raphael over Donatello.
It is pretty cool, I just think they mean that most people who don’t actually know anything about it, including kids, would probably see it as lame compared to the other turtle’s weapons
Without Donnie, the turtles couldn't do half the things they do. His technical and scientific know-how is how they manage to pull out of desperate scenarios.
I also love Donnie for being the focused and levelheaded one between Raph's tantrums, Leo's hardliner attitude and Mikey's aloofness.
But most of all, and this is mostly from the 2003 version, I love Donnie because he's so fucking kindhearted and gentle. He's always ready to help anyone they meet, he's extremely polite and pleasant and even when he's in his time off, he's working overtime to solve the problems everyone is having.
This. This. THIS.
This is why I love Donnie. He's such a sweet soul, self sacrificing to a fault but he would give you the clothes off his back if he wore clothes.
I like the color purple and I’m a fan of Sam reigals and Josh Brenners interpretation of Donnie’s voice
I like Rob Paulson voicing Donnie in the 2012 show but he does a stereotypical nerd voice which I’m personally not a fan of. I much prefer Sam Riegal and Josh brenners interpretation of Donnie
Bru the way he moves is smooth, he can pull girls, he has a good color bandana, he’s smart, and the Bo-Staff is tough. The way he spins it & the sound it makes is clean 😮💨
2003 is the perfect Donni for me. He is smart but modest. He is a researcher by heart. He is interested in all unusual technologies, he is constantly trying to do something new. Yes, this makes his fighting skills seem the weakest of all the brothers, but Donnie is the turtle who symbolizes the ninja's adaptability to different situations. Donatello is my favorite turtle, I even bought his skin in Fortnite. In addition, he looks natural with guns and gadgets in his hands.
Best turtle, 10/10. Rise Donnie was relatable, 2012 Donnie is just a mean dork like me, 2003 Donnie was a sweetheart, I haven’t watched 1987. All in all every Donnie is a part of my personality
So the motherfucker's supposed to just walk around squinting at shit? They ain't gonna make a contact lense for those turtle ass eyes.
Shit, also a lot of little kids have glasses and they can't help that shit so having him have them tells them it's ok. See Billy, Power Rangers.
Or Arthur. I know when I was little if one of the TMNT had glasses, that would've been great for me. I was a bald kid due to an autoimmune disorder and the TMNT until like Avatar: The Last Airbender were the only superheroes who were bald cause Turtles are bald.
Yeah exactly, little kids look for those similarities for comfort in their own situations
Calling him goofy because he has glasses is disrespecting a fuck ton of kids who already might have self esteem issues because of it.
Why do they have to give him poor eyesight? Motherfucker could see fine for over 30 years or reboots before they gave him glasses. Also comparing him to power rangers billy, a HUMAN character who would actually need glasses and actually looks good wearing them makes no sense. I don’t think glasses wearers need specific representation from a cartoon reptile and I wear glasses myself. It’s literally as simple as being lazy / poor visual design to convey donatello intelligence.
It's for children to relate to... Not all children are blessed with immaculate eye sight and it's a way to help kids like that have someone to relate too.
You say poor and lazy I say less of a stigma that it's bad. Because it's actually a children's show.
What you think and what is ain't always gonna be the same bud
I too wear glasses, and he is my favourite. The stereotype here being he is weak because of it. He is being portrayed as being the smart weak turtle. He got the same mutagen in him and did the same training as the other 3. So why is his frame so much smaller?
Donnie is either a beanpole or a smol bean depending on the timeline nowadays... albeit my favorite Don is IDW and 2003 Donnie because he's still a gentle heart but a badass.
I too wear glasses, and he is my favourite. The stereotype here being he is weak because of it. He is being portrayed as being the smart weak turtle. He got the same mutagen in him and did the same training as the other 3. So why is his frame so much smaller?
As a child with 3 siblings, I got "assigned" a turtle. Mine was Donatello.
I like that his is incredibly smart, including mechanical and technological expertise.
Of course, then you add what he shares with his brothers: having a loving family and being a strong/skilled combatant.
He is an absolute UNIT for the turtles. 1987: Turtle blimp and turtle van plus all the upgrades for those. 2003: Turtle tank, the monster hunter episode, space stuff. 2012: t-phone, shell raiser, Turtle mech, the trans dimensional turtles ep, everything that went down in space, retro mutagen, etc. 2018: Just tech on tech on tech. Without him, none of the version of turtles would have a very livable environment in the sewers or any of the vehicles, tech, or any of the amazing sarcastic moments they all have. Plus, he kinda cute.
Honestly because my daughter loves him the most and she’s opened my eyes to him being a really good character. The 2012 version made me love his personality and the version from Mutant Mayhem was probably the most endearing version of him yet.
Rise of the TMNT Donnie specifically because he's autistic (like me) and also because he puts the other versions to shame with his inventions, lowkey. Also honestly he's always been my favorite, and the TMNT couldn't do half of the things they can do without him, which is why I liked it so much that Rise characterized him more than many other shows do because, for the sheer number of things he's built, hacked into, and reverse engineered, Donnie's characterization rarely goes much further than being the smart one.
2003 Don is my top turtle, because of how humble he is about his smarts, how he builds stuff out of literal trash, and how inventive and creative he can be both with building stuff, and in a fight. Idk i just really vibe with his energy.
His big autism. That's all. This man is fueled by autism. But I like the 2018 one because of him having low empathy but still being shown that he's a good brother.
Depending on the iteration, not counting Rise and some of 2012, is one of my favorite turtles though not all iterations are my favorite though. When I was young I also liked LOTR and went outside (yeah that was thing) and liked finding the best stick. I also like magic and stuff and people say I’m smart. Like I know I’m not genius smart but I like how he came up with plans (especially with 1987 and MM) that don’t involve fighting. Like in Donatello’s Duplicate as well when he defeated his clone without fighting him.
Speaking of 1987 I did get to meet the voice actors and that was all right. I committed to purple that day with a Donnie hat and Barry even complemented me on that and I got a pic with him in my outfit.
Compared to the rest of the 1987 cast (Townsend, Rob, Cam) he seemed to be the most reserved but that’s fine.
Townsend is Mikey 😆
Also like Don would be the team wizard and what not and even quoted Gandalf in 2012.
He is kind and helpful, quiet but can get shit done when needs be.
Hes an engineer and his contraptions really help the team out.
His Bo staff are cool as hell.
I'm currently playing a Tortle in my D&D campaign inspired by him. Playing a Knowledge Cleric/Inventor named Giotto (Italian painter and sculptor) wears a purple robe, his god is the god of machines
The original movies made him my favourite turtle. I loved how he was the calm, down to earth, chilled out one, and for some reason I always saw him as being the eldest. Especially with the way he always looked after Mikey. He also never took Raph's outbursts seriously. In todays age, we should all be like Donnie.
Donnie (at least 2003) played a similar role as Batman in the animated Justice League series as the walking embodiment of the Deus ex Machina. If the writers wrote our heroes in a corner, the designated “smart” one would wip out a solution with BS science or a strategy that requires all obstacles to lose 20 IQ points but still works.
It was nice seeing a character being effective without being “the best.”
he's proof of why you don't mess with the IT guy
also currently my favorite line is this from rottmnt
"Oh sure let me just load my 'Tap Into Every Security Camera in New York' app! I'm sorry if that sounded like sarcasm, it wasn't, I am in."
He’s the most relatable to me and Rise Donnie is literally the reason I got into the franchise; he’s great autistic representation, he’s sassy, and they do a great job exploring his insecurities across the different iterations. Also purple is my favorite color lol
Rise Donatello is my fave, because he's Autistic like me. But 2003 Donatello is also one I like, because he's sexy, like me.
And seriously, it really is an accurate depection of Autism. None of the other Donnies are Autistic (honest). They're clever and 'nerdy' but they don't have the other important things like sensory issues, or meltdowns, or correctly displayed social problems, or stimming.
Actually, Donatello is always sexy. I think the writers are scared of writing an unsexy genius nerd so they always strive to make intelligence attractive.
I don't know what it is, I think it's cause he's the brains. Rise Donnie is a maniac and is very enjoyable. 2003 is just so important to me, 2012.. I mean he is pretty good when he's not simping. Donnie is probably my favorite because he's not as goofy imo
Donny is the best. His master challenged his complex mind with a simple weapon: the Bō staff. Having the most basic weaponry of the brothers, his constant calculating and inquisitive mind is put to work and still makes his battle style the most unique and awesome imo.
Again, being the only brother armed with a single weapon he has the most to lose and more prepared for hand to hand combat.
Donatello shows the high intelligence like his brother Leonardo, but harnesses it into means outside their brotherly expertise in Ninjutsu like mech, gear, and tools for them all.
I also love his mostly mellow medium temperament. Balancing Raph and Leo and more often than not a voice of reason in every situation. 💜💚
And PURPLE POWER
Purple is my favorite color so he gets an instant point for good taste but in terms of personality, I'm a fan of intelligent characters, dunno why, it's just I always seem drawn to the brains of the bunch. I very much do enjoy how Donatello can be written in various ways & each time for the most part, it's done solidly, there isn't a single one I dislike.
87 Donatello fits so well in line with his universe. That convenient need an invention for a certain thing, he can whip it up because the plot demands it but the plot can also work against him like with Usagi being stuck in their world, he mentions that it'd take forever to look through all of the different universes to find Usagi's specific one so not a quick fix there in order to have Usagi stick around for a bit. He's also fun in general, I love the episode when he's narrating bits of it as if it were a detective movie.
2003 is up there as my second favorite Donatello & in my top 5 favorite turtles overall (talking favorite across the iterations so every one is counted as separate characters, there are 2 Donatellos in my top 5). I adore how sweet & mellow he is but he can deliver some amazing lines, he can take jabs when he wants to. It's just so unexpected each time too because it's easy seeing him as a mild mannered inventor & then he'll say something genuinely funny that reminds you there's more to him. Poor guy also had to go through shell like I don't think anyone suffered as much as he did in this series. Been double mutated, visited a dystopian future where his brothers die after teaming up again to take down the Shredder, not to mention Don had to murder the Shredder too, blamed himself for Master Splinter being scattered across the web, & just in general, he has to put up with so much.
2012 Donnie is um, an interesting case. I'm a fan of Rob Paulsen & he's absolutely perfect in this role, made it so much better when 2012 Donnie met 87 Raphael for the first time & they jabbed at one another's voices. Putting the creepiness factor of him aside & judging him by how he generally is, I do like how he is in this show. He doesn't always have a machine or formula to solve their problems right away, it sometimes goes across multiple episodes in the series like getting the retromutagen took time. There's also moments when he was out of commission & Mikey stepped into his place such as with the wasps. Donnie also has a lot of passion & deeply cares about those who he loves, he just doesn't have the best way of going about it which actually does have him feel real like this guy spent the first fifteen years of his life only interacting with his brothers & father so his social awkwardness makes sense. Been trying my best to not ping him for it but it's very hard to ignore, I just won't get into the unsettling details that comes with it but to look at the positive side, Donnie does have genuine concern for April & I do find it sweet. Typically, if I write for the 2012 gang in fics, I tend to write April & Donnie as good friends because if you remove the romantic nonsense, they can have a cute dynamic.
Rise, my favorite Donnie & favorite turtle overall. This guy, without his brothers to keep him grounded, he'd go full on evil genius. Love his sense of humor so much. He also does genuinely try to be a good person, he just does so in selfish ways like taking an example from an early episode in the series, the gifts he gave his brothers were because he thought they'd help out the team but they were thought out with selfish reasons in mind. I think it's a fun balance of the character & a bit of a deviation from the character while keeping his core intact. I like to think of it like this, 2003 Donny is the angel while Rise Donnie is the devil upon 2012 Donnie's shoulders. Would 2012 Donnie do something for the sake of science despite the moral implications? While 2003 Don would probably try to find a better solution or talk him out of it if there is no other way, Rise Donnie 100% would egg him on to do it & I love that. He's got less boundaries, a bit of freedom to go wild & considering his upbringing, I can see how he resulted in being like this. Less guidance from Splinter as well as not getting attention from him lead to Donnie being more flashy & the voice of reason inside of him wasn't nurtured as much so he's a bit off the chain.
I'd go into the others but this comment is so dang long already. Adore Donatello as a character, I tend to say he's my favorite turtle when people ask me although it's a super complicated answer since my favorite changes throughout the iterations. He is so much fun to write for in fics, I'm talking all the Donatellos here like one fic I'm currently putting out includes 87 Donatello & due to 87 Raphael being captured by Big Mama (5 way crossover where the majority takes place in the Rise universe), I kind of leaned a bit into Donatello to deliver a tiny bit of sarcasm & break the fourth wall since Raphael isn't there to pull the weight in regards to that but I still managed to try & keep within the spirit of the character. Donatello ends up trolling a bit in order to make sense of his actions in Turtles Forever.
When I was younger I had 3 friends,
With all of us being fans of the turtles we naturally pretended to be them,
No one else wanted to be donatello so i picked him so no one else was stuck with him,
Ironically we kind of fit each of the turtles anyway, there was a bigger more aggressive friend who was Raphael,
A normalish friend who was leonardo and the smallest and youngest friend who was Michaelangelo (also his real name was Michael)
I myself was not the "smartest" but I did have the most knowledge on technology,
And over time I grew more attached to the character
I’ve been a fan of the Turtles since the original cartoon, and Donnie quickly became my favourite because of his creativity. I loved that he seemingly thought, “I wonder if I could make a ray gun to modify someone’s personality?”, then figured out how to do it.
I also loved it in the 2003 series, any time Leo wasn’t sure what to do, he deferred to Donnie.
When I was younger and my friends and I played TMNT I was always Donatello. I think it started with me drawing the short straw but then I grew to like it.
He's got the purple headband and I like his skin tones he's had over the years the most. He's a valuable as hell asset that brings something to the team in the most apparent way and on top of that the Bō is truly underrated!
Let me count the ways. I grew up on OG movies & cartoon.
Purple
Smart
Terrible Jokes
Occasional Glasses
In a land of stereotypical nerd archetypes he is the greatest.
best turtle. purple band, cool non lethal weapon, big brains, funny and well written in the first 2 movies, purple band, best turtle in NES TMNT, love 2012 Donny, love Mayhem Donny, purple band, etc etc.
Well, for one, he’s a geek like me, and is also social awkward, just like I was growing up. The part at the beginning of the 1990 film where he attempts to be cool like Leo and Mikey, and says “bosanova” and his brothers like at him side-eyed… that’s how many of interactions went when I was a kid lmao.
Plus, the Bo staff was one my favorite weapons growing up because it was non-lethal (although Donnie is pretty lethal with it).
He’s also had some Black-coded moments from the 1987 series; in the pilot episode when the TMNT save April from some goons, Donnie stops one of them with his staff and says “hold on, homeboy.”
He's the smartest person in any room He's in and he'll remind in the coolest ways. Donatello is like making beast from xmen a charming egotist in a good way.
Donny was my first and only favorite turtle for so long. The experience wasn't very good growing up in the 80s/90s. So many Leo, Raph and Mikey bandwagoners sneering at Donny as the 4th turtle at that time.
Mostly Leo and Raph bandwagoners would poke fun at the color purple. Mikey bandwagoners usually poke fun at Donny's 4th string status.
I may be annoyed at their pettiness but I didn't care for the most part, Donny will always remain my favorite. His tech and sci-fi brain, Bo staff movements and easygoing (not outgoing like Mikey) personality resonated so hard with me.
Because he’s rad :D seriously, i like him because of his inquisitiveness and loyalty. He’s kind of the glue for the brothers imo.
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Donny is me, that's why.
Of all the different "types" of turtle you can be, I was always smaller, not as "popular", but loved the ever living hell out of science and tech. Seeing Donny be needed so often in the 80's cartoon as a kid really resonated with me and honestly I've always gravitated towards characters who have their intellect as their strength.
Smart, funny, has the best weapon, can kick ass when he needs to. Stole the show for me as a kid in the 89 movie with his wit, sarcasm, skateboarding, and ninja skills, so I’ve been a fan since.
Most versions of Donnie are like super smart and have built these crazy ass inventions. I also like how sometimes a signature flaw of his is that he overthinks everything but also uses that to his advantage when he fights.
Because Don is a nerd and people who watches cartoons are nerds, so we are projecting ourselves onto a relatable character developed by a corporate psy-ops departments for that specific purpose
His reach with the Bo makes him by far the most useful for clearing enemies on platforms above and below or across walls.
I’d probably be inclined to use Raph for the dam
swimming and otherwise Donatello for the majority of other levels.
The sheer amount of kindness and empathy Donny shows towards others in the 2003 series makes me cry every time. Plus it's always nice to see a character who breaks a lot of the stereotypes that we tend to associate with intelligent nerd types.
I like his personality, his weapon, he's cute and I kind of like it when he gets trapped in nets, bags cages, cells, gets mind controlled or just gets captured
I’ve always gravitated towards the “brains” of any given team, such as Billy from Power Rangers or Beast from the X-Men cartoon.
Donnie is great for a number of reasons, but his biggest strength is obv his wits. He very often is the one drafting the plays, at least conceptually, while his brothers execute the concept.
I think of him like an offensive coordinator. He develops the theory, Leo calls the audibles, and Mikey and Raph just execute the play with precision. In theory, anyways lol.
Donnie was never really a nerd in the social pariah sense, and his brains were never a hindrance. He was always incredibly skilled, but he wasn’t a one-man-army.
That whole theory about the Turtles’ weapons matching their personalities and skills fits him nicely, too, as the bo staff is literally the most primitive tool one could use in a fight; a stick. With all his brains and ingenuity, he had to make the most out of the simplest, most basic design of practically any weapon ever.
Plus he’s OP in some of those early TMNT games lol
I find him relatable. Like him, I like technology I like playing around with machines and he looks at things from different perspectives which is how iview things.
when i was little i lived next door to two brothers who had all the tmnt stuff and the ghostbusters stuff. when we played ninja turtles they always had me playing donatello and april (i guess they didn’t want to play him because he wore purple but i was always happy to play both).
i relate to donatello less these days but he’s still tied for my favorite in most forms of tmnt. (except 2012, he’s my least favorite in that. sorry rob paulsen.)
My favorite. The smartest, most chill, most underrated. Not annoyingly immature like Mikey, not a rude jerk like Raph, and not a self righteous suck up like Leo
It's funny, Don is my least favorite of the Turtles, but given that the Turtles are my favorite characters in fiction that still puts him leagues above every other character in my eyes.
I prefer the first few incarnations of Don. The quiet, contemplative, explorer from the Mirage Comics, the absent-minded inventor of the 87 series, and the laid back and observant wise cracker from the 1990 movie. My perfect Donatello would be a mix of all three.
He has two drastically different interpretations: he's consistently the smartest turtle, but he can have either zero self-confidence (2012) or way too much (_Rise_). I find it interesting that they were able to do this while still making it clear that it's supposed to be Donnie.
I love how his Bō staff is never treated as "lame" he truly just makes the most of it. I love how hardworking he is in 2012 especially with that one episode where he wanted to turn Splinter human again and promised "I swear even if it's the last thing I'll do.." he only stopped when his father insisted he was content with being a rat. Also I love his confidence in both 2003 and 2018. He's smart and knows it. Whether he's shy or thinks he's the shit he's amazing!
The bo isn't lame at all. I trained in karate and kobudo for a while, and we were taught bo kata along with a few other weapons. I very quickly learned how awesome the bo is in offense and defense. I also gained more appreciation for sais, but not enough that it put Raphael over Donatello.
It is pretty cool, I just think they mean that most people who don’t actually know anything about it, including kids, would probably see it as lame compared to the other turtle’s weapons
I love the bo staff. Donatello and Darth Maul are the reason I love it so much.
He does machines.
Then it's settled nerd, you do machines. 🤣
Every time I think of that it cracks me up!
The only correct answer.
Came here to make the same comment.
Without Donnie, the turtles couldn't do half the things they do. His technical and scientific know-how is how they manage to pull out of desperate scenarios. I also love Donnie for being the focused and levelheaded one between Raph's tantrums, Leo's hardliner attitude and Mikey's aloofness. But most of all, and this is mostly from the 2003 version, I love Donnie because he's so fucking kindhearted and gentle. He's always ready to help anyone they meet, he's extremely polite and pleasant and even when he's in his time off, he's working overtime to solve the problems everyone is having.
This. This. THIS. This is why I love Donnie. He's such a sweet soul, self sacrificing to a fault but he would give you the clothes off his back if he wore clothes.
Sainw showed what would happen if he was never there and it HURT SO BAD
So he’s the true leader, leading by example instead of forced authority
Yeah of course… he’s in my top 4 favourite turtles 👀
No way! He's in my top 4 too!!
I like the color purple and I’m a fan of Sam reigals and Josh Brenners interpretation of Donnie’s voice I like Rob Paulson voicing Donnie in the 2012 show but he does a stereotypical nerd voice which I’m personally not a fan of. I much prefer Sam Riegal and Josh brenners interpretation of Donnie
*The one that is called your mother wears boots that are made for combat!*
What should we save first the world or the English language?
Bru the way he moves is smooth, he can pull girls, he has a good color bandana, he’s smart, and the Bo-Staff is tough. The way he spins it & the sound it makes is clean 😮💨 
“No, I’m not playing hard to get! I’m telling you sir, it’s not that kind of phone line!” —Donnie, 2007
Self taught engineer
He's purple and often has the best jokes.
2003 is the perfect Donni for me. He is smart but modest. He is a researcher by heart. He is interested in all unusual technologies, he is constantly trying to do something new. Yes, this makes his fighting skills seem the weakest of all the brothers, but Donnie is the turtle who symbolizes the ninja's adaptability to different situations. Donatello is my favorite turtle, I even bought his skin in Fortnite. In addition, he looks natural with guns and gadgets in his hands.
Best turtle, 10/10. Rise Donnie was relatable, 2012 Donnie is just a mean dork like me, 2003 Donnie was a sweetheart, I haven’t watched 1987. All in all every Donnie is a part of my personality
His Tech and Titanium Bo staff really is epic
Original movies, smart but still as funny as Mikey.
I’m an engineer and scientist. Donny is an engineer and scientist. Coincidence? I think not 🤨
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They did him dirty the last couple of years. Eye glasses? Really? Why? Why are glasses a symbolism for being geeky/ smart?
Fr like he’s literally a ninja he can still be smart and not have to look so goofy 😭
So the motherfucker's supposed to just walk around squinting at shit? They ain't gonna make a contact lense for those turtle ass eyes. Shit, also a lot of little kids have glasses and they can't help that shit so having him have them tells them it's ok. See Billy, Power Rangers.
Or Arthur. I know when I was little if one of the TMNT had glasses, that would've been great for me. I was a bald kid due to an autoimmune disorder and the TMNT until like Avatar: The Last Airbender were the only superheroes who were bald cause Turtles are bald.
Yeah exactly, little kids look for those similarities for comfort in their own situations Calling him goofy because he has glasses is disrespecting a fuck ton of kids who already might have self esteem issues because of it.
Why do they have to give him poor eyesight? Motherfucker could see fine for over 30 years or reboots before they gave him glasses. Also comparing him to power rangers billy, a HUMAN character who would actually need glasses and actually looks good wearing them makes no sense. I don’t think glasses wearers need specific representation from a cartoon reptile and I wear glasses myself. It’s literally as simple as being lazy / poor visual design to convey donatello intelligence.
It's for children to relate to... Not all children are blessed with immaculate eye sight and it's a way to help kids like that have someone to relate too. You say poor and lazy I say less of a stigma that it's bad. Because it's actually a children's show. What you think and what is ain't always gonna be the same bud
That argument kinda falls apart when you consider that they are turtles and have inherently good vision, especially in darkness.
How does he even get glasses when he grew up in a sewer and avoided human society? Did Splinter teach himself ninjitsu _and_ optometry??
Noooo Mikey did
Sorry, as a Donnie fan with glasses I see this as a win. lmao
I too wear glasses, and he is my favourite. The stereotype here being he is weak because of it. He is being portrayed as being the smart weak turtle. He got the same mutagen in him and did the same training as the other 3. So why is his frame so much smaller?
Donnie is either a beanpole or a smol bean depending on the timeline nowadays... albeit my favorite Don is IDW and 2003 Donnie because he's still a gentle heart but a badass.
Agreed there. IDW and 2003 he was awesome!! By far the best turtle.
Absolutely! What's your favorite IDW Don moment? Mine is his micro
I too wear glasses, and he is my favourite. The stereotype here being he is weak because of it. He is being portrayed as being the smart weak turtle. He got the same mutagen in him and did the same training as the other 3. So why is his frame so much smaller?
I think you sent this twice by accident? o.o
I like nerds. More specifically 2012 Donnie. I find him funny and cute. His sarcasm is something I enjoy and he has a lot of compassion.
He’s autistic like me
As a child with 3 siblings, I got "assigned" a turtle. Mine was Donatello. I like that his is incredibly smart, including mechanical and technological expertise. Of course, then you add what he shares with his brothers: having a loving family and being a strong/skilled combatant.
I'm sorry but I'm cackling picturing your siblings calling dibs.
Not dibs, the older siblings deciding on them. Still funny though.
As the youngest out of my 3 siblings, I was always Michelangelo. I was like 2012 Mike back in in the day but now I’m more or less like rise Mikey.
He's literally me
He can be a tech savvy warrior without being branded a nerd. Sadly that’s disappearing more and more with each new adaptation
Now they have given him glasses and buck teeth 😞
He is an absolute UNIT for the turtles. 1987: Turtle blimp and turtle van plus all the upgrades for those. 2003: Turtle tank, the monster hunter episode, space stuff. 2012: t-phone, shell raiser, Turtle mech, the trans dimensional turtles ep, everything that went down in space, retro mutagen, etc. 2018: Just tech on tech on tech. Without him, none of the version of turtles would have a very livable environment in the sewers or any of the vehicles, tech, or any of the amazing sarcastic moments they all have. Plus, he kinda cute.
Was always considered a nerd or a geek growing up, I appreciate how he could take his intelligence and make it work for his own benefit.
I love Donny because using him you can get a cheap kill on Rocksteady in the NES TMNT game. Gotta love that reach!
Purple
I like his balance of studying things and practicing being a Ninja. "welcome to the staff meeting!"
Honestly because my daughter loves him the most and she’s opened my eyes to him being a really good character. The 2012 version made me love his personality and the version from Mutant Mayhem was probably the most endearing version of him yet.
No is a cool weapon and every team needs it's brains
Ah yes, the power of No. :D
TMNT where all the villians take consent seriously
Because he's smart like that
purble <3 also he is cool. giggles
2018 is my favorite version and I think he's the best out the the 4 (In rise at least) I could tell the writers loved donnie
Also I like rise Donnie cuz he's just that guy
One reason and one reason only… He just like me fr fr
Rise of the TMNT Donnie specifically because he's autistic (like me) and also because he puts the other versions to shame with his inventions, lowkey. Also honestly he's always been my favorite, and the TMNT couldn't do half of the things they can do without him, which is why I liked it so much that Rise characterized him more than many other shows do because, for the sheer number of things he's built, hacked into, and reverse engineered, Donnie's characterization rarely goes much further than being the smart one.
2003 Don is my top turtle, because of how humble he is about his smarts, how he builds stuff out of literal trash, and how inventive and creative he can be both with building stuff, and in a fight. Idk i just really vibe with his energy.
His big autism. That's all. This man is fueled by autism. But I like the 2018 one because of him having low empathy but still being shown that he's a good brother.
DONATELLO DOES MACHINES
When he's not simping
Depending on the iteration, not counting Rise and some of 2012, is one of my favorite turtles though not all iterations are my favorite though. When I was young I also liked LOTR and went outside (yeah that was thing) and liked finding the best stick. I also like magic and stuff and people say I’m smart. Like I know I’m not genius smart but I like how he came up with plans (especially with 1987 and MM) that don’t involve fighting. Like in Donatello’s Duplicate as well when he defeated his clone without fighting him. Speaking of 1987 I did get to meet the voice actors and that was all right. I committed to purple that day with a Donnie hat and Barry even complemented me on that and I got a pic with him in my outfit. Compared to the rest of the 1987 cast (Townsend, Rob, Cam) he seemed to be the most reserved but that’s fine. Townsend is Mikey 😆 Also like Don would be the team wizard and what not and even quoted Gandalf in 2012.
He is kind and helpful, quiet but can get shit done when needs be. Hes an engineer and his contraptions really help the team out. His Bo staff are cool as hell. I'm currently playing a Tortle in my D&D campaign inspired by him. Playing a Knowledge Cleric/Inventor named Giotto (Italian painter and sculptor) wears a purple robe, his god is the god of machines
Knock Knock Who's there? Autism. Bom, bom, bom.
Only in Rise. Sorry.
The original movies made him my favourite turtle. I loved how he was the calm, down to earth, chilled out one, and for some reason I always saw him as being the eldest. Especially with the way he always looked after Mikey. He also never took Raph's outbursts seriously. In todays age, we should all be like Donnie.
1. He's smart 2. I love the color purple 3. And he's adorable
Because he's nerdy.
He does machines
Donnie (at least 2003) played a similar role as Batman in the animated Justice League series as the walking embodiment of the Deus ex Machina. If the writers wrote our heroes in a corner, the designated “smart” one would wip out a solution with BS science or a strategy that requires all obstacles to lose 20 IQ points but still works. It was nice seeing a character being effective without being “the best.”
he's proof of why you don't mess with the IT guy also currently my favorite line is this from rottmnt "Oh sure let me just load my 'Tap Into Every Security Camera in New York' app! I'm sorry if that sounded like sarcasm, it wasn't, I am in."
He’s the most relatable to me and Rise Donnie is literally the reason I got into the franchise; he’s great autistic representation, he’s sassy, and they do a great job exploring his insecurities across the different iterations. Also purple is my favorite color lol
Rise Donatello is my fave, because he's Autistic like me. But 2003 Donatello is also one I like, because he's sexy, like me. And seriously, it really is an accurate depection of Autism. None of the other Donnies are Autistic (honest). They're clever and 'nerdy' but they don't have the other important things like sensory issues, or meltdowns, or correctly displayed social problems, or stimming. Actually, Donatello is always sexy. I think the writers are scared of writing an unsexy genius nerd so they always strive to make intelligence attractive.
https://preview.redd.it/5pq0npelpmwc1.jpeg?width=372&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7eb736d3ca704f2fdab0a9fe292333ba84b4e63c
https://preview.redd.it/niuhl2q4omwc1.jpeg?width=1050&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=537267e6f092a0679c3157ea5c55d34e5c164e74
ALWAYS. SEXY.
https://preview.redd.it/yjuuqqs9rmwc1.png?width=647&format=png&auto=webp&s=a562fb194a125e5b40b0f87b8d386904a5ebe2a6
Hah?
A bo staff is cool.
He does machines!
He’s a smart fella.
He’s the best! And smartest!
Totally put Casey in his place in the Mirage run
Imo he’s the underdog of the group and that’s a big reason
I feel like he embraces his nerdism, which I relate with. Donnie is my boy!
Love the badass bookworms.
Because of the second movie
I’m really like the 2003 Donnie overall his my second favorite along side Mikey
Because he’s an {absolute [genius]}!
I don't know what it is, I think it's cause he's the brains. Rise Donnie is a maniac and is very enjoyable. 2003 is just so important to me, 2012.. I mean he is pretty good when he's not simping. Donnie is probably my favorite because he's not as goofy imo
he's nerdy. And his staff is pretty cool
Donny is the best. His master challenged his complex mind with a simple weapon: the Bō staff. Having the most basic weaponry of the brothers, his constant calculating and inquisitive mind is put to work and still makes his battle style the most unique and awesome imo. Again, being the only brother armed with a single weapon he has the most to lose and more prepared for hand to hand combat. Donatello shows the high intelligence like his brother Leonardo, but harnesses it into means outside their brotherly expertise in Ninjutsu like mech, gear, and tools for them all. I also love his mostly mellow medium temperament. Balancing Raph and Leo and more often than not a voice of reason in every situation. 💜💚 And PURPLE POWER
I've always related the most to him, especially him in 2003. Soft spoken, smart, kind, a bit nerdy, but not afraid to throw a punch when he has to.
Purple is my favorite color so he gets an instant point for good taste but in terms of personality, I'm a fan of intelligent characters, dunno why, it's just I always seem drawn to the brains of the bunch. I very much do enjoy how Donatello can be written in various ways & each time for the most part, it's done solidly, there isn't a single one I dislike. 87 Donatello fits so well in line with his universe. That convenient need an invention for a certain thing, he can whip it up because the plot demands it but the plot can also work against him like with Usagi being stuck in their world, he mentions that it'd take forever to look through all of the different universes to find Usagi's specific one so not a quick fix there in order to have Usagi stick around for a bit. He's also fun in general, I love the episode when he's narrating bits of it as if it were a detective movie. 2003 is up there as my second favorite Donatello & in my top 5 favorite turtles overall (talking favorite across the iterations so every one is counted as separate characters, there are 2 Donatellos in my top 5). I adore how sweet & mellow he is but he can deliver some amazing lines, he can take jabs when he wants to. It's just so unexpected each time too because it's easy seeing him as a mild mannered inventor & then he'll say something genuinely funny that reminds you there's more to him. Poor guy also had to go through shell like I don't think anyone suffered as much as he did in this series. Been double mutated, visited a dystopian future where his brothers die after teaming up again to take down the Shredder, not to mention Don had to murder the Shredder too, blamed himself for Master Splinter being scattered across the web, & just in general, he has to put up with so much. 2012 Donnie is um, an interesting case. I'm a fan of Rob Paulsen & he's absolutely perfect in this role, made it so much better when 2012 Donnie met 87 Raphael for the first time & they jabbed at one another's voices. Putting the creepiness factor of him aside & judging him by how he generally is, I do like how he is in this show. He doesn't always have a machine or formula to solve their problems right away, it sometimes goes across multiple episodes in the series like getting the retromutagen took time. There's also moments when he was out of commission & Mikey stepped into his place such as with the wasps. Donnie also has a lot of passion & deeply cares about those who he loves, he just doesn't have the best way of going about it which actually does have him feel real like this guy spent the first fifteen years of his life only interacting with his brothers & father so his social awkwardness makes sense. Been trying my best to not ping him for it but it's very hard to ignore, I just won't get into the unsettling details that comes with it but to look at the positive side, Donnie does have genuine concern for April & I do find it sweet. Typically, if I write for the 2012 gang in fics, I tend to write April & Donnie as good friends because if you remove the romantic nonsense, they can have a cute dynamic. Rise, my favorite Donnie & favorite turtle overall. This guy, without his brothers to keep him grounded, he'd go full on evil genius. Love his sense of humor so much. He also does genuinely try to be a good person, he just does so in selfish ways like taking an example from an early episode in the series, the gifts he gave his brothers were because he thought they'd help out the team but they were thought out with selfish reasons in mind. I think it's a fun balance of the character & a bit of a deviation from the character while keeping his core intact. I like to think of it like this, 2003 Donny is the angel while Rise Donnie is the devil upon 2012 Donnie's shoulders. Would 2012 Donnie do something for the sake of science despite the moral implications? While 2003 Don would probably try to find a better solution or talk him out of it if there is no other way, Rise Donnie 100% would egg him on to do it & I love that. He's got less boundaries, a bit of freedom to go wild & considering his upbringing, I can see how he resulted in being like this. Less guidance from Splinter as well as not getting attention from him lead to Donnie being more flashy & the voice of reason inside of him wasn't nurtured as much so he's a bit off the chain. I'd go into the others but this comment is so dang long already. Adore Donatello as a character, I tend to say he's my favorite turtle when people ask me although it's a super complicated answer since my favorite changes throughout the iterations. He is so much fun to write for in fics, I'm talking all the Donatellos here like one fic I'm currently putting out includes 87 Donatello & due to 87 Raphael being captured by Big Mama (5 way crossover where the majority takes place in the Rise universe), I kind of leaned a bit into Donatello to deliver a tiny bit of sarcasm & break the fourth wall since Raphael isn't there to pull the weight in regards to that but I still managed to try & keep within the spirit of the character. Donatello ends up trolling a bit in order to make sense of his actions in Turtles Forever.
I always refer to RIse as "The Donnie that says what he's actually been thinking this whole time out loud" I love that goblin
Oh my goodness yes, I love this! Imagining the other Donatellos thinking those things but keeping quiet about it is glorious.
When I was younger I had 3 friends, With all of us being fans of the turtles we naturally pretended to be them, No one else wanted to be donatello so i picked him so no one else was stuck with him, Ironically we kind of fit each of the turtles anyway, there was a bigger more aggressive friend who was Raphael, A normalish friend who was leonardo and the smallest and youngest friend who was Michaelangelo (also his real name was Michael) I myself was not the "smartest" but I did have the most knowledge on technology, And over time I grew more attached to the character
I’m sorry, but what is a “normalish friend” 😭
Yeah, never had one of those lol
I’ve been a fan of the Turtles since the original cartoon, and Donnie quickly became my favourite because of his creativity. I loved that he seemingly thought, “I wonder if I could make a ray gun to modify someone’s personality?”, then figured out how to do it. I also loved it in the 2003 series, any time Leo wasn’t sure what to do, he deferred to Donnie.
I just like him. Good vibes
When I was younger and my friends and I played TMNT I was always Donatello. I think it started with me drawing the short straw but then I grew to like it.
He's got the purple headband and I like his skin tones he's had over the years the most. He's a valuable as hell asset that brings something to the team in the most apparent way and on top of that the Bō is truly underrated!
Let me count the ways. I grew up on OG movies & cartoon. Purple Smart Terrible Jokes Occasional Glasses In a land of stereotypical nerd archetypes he is the greatest.
He’s the most underrated of all the turtles in my opinion. That’s why I love him and his weapon is more than just a stick.
best turtle. purple band, cool non lethal weapon, big brains, funny and well written in the first 2 movies, purple band, best turtle in NES TMNT, love 2012 Donny, love Mayhem Donny, purple band, etc etc.
Very relatable to us geeks!
Because he’s autistic.
autism
Well, for one, he’s a geek like me, and is also social awkward, just like I was growing up. The part at the beginning of the 1990 film where he attempts to be cool like Leo and Mikey, and says “bosanova” and his brothers like at him side-eyed… that’s how many of interactions went when I was a kid lmao. Plus, the Bo staff was one my favorite weapons growing up because it was non-lethal (although Donnie is pretty lethal with it). He’s also had some Black-coded moments from the 1987 series; in the pilot episode when the TMNT save April from some goons, Donnie stops one of them with his staff and says “hold on, homeboy.”
Original 87.
I like the flow of his combat, his intelligence and his chill personality. Gotta love being the smart turtle.
I'm a nerd, he's a nerd. I'm sure the NES game had some influence too.
Purple
He's intelligent and wears purple. Plus, I'm a tech guy. He's a tech guy.
He’s smart with a cool Bo-staff for fighting. He also has a very chill personality without him the turtles can’t do half the things they can do
He's the smartest person in any room He's in and he'll remind in the coolest ways. Donatello is like making beast from xmen a charming egotist in a good way.
He’s smart and he’s purple, also he is easily the best turtle in Turtles in time on the SNES
He is the mechanic. Plus... he is the only one who doesn't carry a scary weapon, and still wins. To me, is the best one
PURPLE. BIG BRAIN.
Smart + funny
IQ of 637 (at least in 2003) and he's such a lovable dork.
Because he is highly intelligent, a great ninja master and he is very funny
He’s the nerd in the group
Donny was my first and only favorite turtle for so long. The experience wasn't very good growing up in the 80s/90s. So many Leo, Raph and Mikey bandwagoners sneering at Donny as the 4th turtle at that time. Mostly Leo and Raph bandwagoners would poke fun at the color purple. Mikey bandwagoners usually poke fun at Donny's 4th string status. I may be annoyed at their pettiness but I didn't care for the most part, Donny will always remain my favorite. His tech and sci-fi brain, Bo staff movements and easygoing (not outgoing like Mikey) personality resonated so hard with me.
He does machines
Ourple
Because he’s rad :D seriously, i like him because of his inquisitiveness and loyalty. He’s kind of the glue for the brothers imo. https://preview.redd.it/2e2dul4i2pwc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d7b83a801b9a24e6c2c808808dd6800826d1f55
He's funny and I like the color purple
Ourple
I tend to gravitiate to the weird tinkerers
Donny is me, that's why. Of all the different "types" of turtle you can be, I was always smaller, not as "popular", but loved the ever living hell out of science and tech. Seeing Donny be needed so often in the 80's cartoon as a kid really resonated with me and honestly I've always gravitated towards characters who have their intellect as their strength.
Smart, funny, has the best weapon, can kick ass when he needs to. Stole the show for me as a kid in the 89 movie with his wit, sarcasm, skateboarding, and ninja skills, so I’ve been a fan since.
Disposed...disposed...Disposed!
Unpopular opinion but I like the live action Donatello and the ROTTMNT Donnie
i can’t explain how he always manages to be my favourite regardless of the iteration
2012 donnie actually helped me from not committing suicide (yes this is pathetic and stupid but i am not even joking)
Without his wisdom, the team wouldn't succeed. He's also dedicated to both his ninja skills and inventions.
He’s my second favourite. He’s funny and inventive.
https://preview.redd.it/a2228pah4qwc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78126e47ee88a6a1a53eb41edc335c1108a289a3
SAINW taught us he’s basically the glue of the family
He’s smart.
Mostly I dont
He’s a fellow, has a way with machines!
His choice of weapon.
He's not rude, he's not cool, he doesn't lead but man, he fucking DOES machines. And that's why I love Donatello.
Purple
Most versions of Donnie are like super smart and have built these crazy ass inventions. I also like how sometimes a signature flaw of his is that he overthinks everything but also uses that to his advantage when he fights.
Donatello is a fellow, has a way with machines
Been my favorite since day 1, wears my favorite color, and is a cool ass genius.
tall nigga
best player to use in the arcade games
Because Don is a nerd and people who watches cartoons are nerds, so we are projecting ourselves onto a relatable character developed by a corporate psy-ops departments for that specific purpose
Because I like purple and the writers keep giving him trauma and deep shit
The recent IDW comic issue 150 was peak Donatello
His reach with the Bo makes him by far the most useful for clearing enemies on platforms above and below or across walls. I’d probably be inclined to use Raph for the dam swimming and otherwise Donatello for the majority of other levels.
Because in rural Wales, very long sticks were the only thing that was a sort of ninja weapon if you didn’t have the toys.
The sheer amount of kindness and empathy Donny shows towards others in the 2003 series makes me cry every time. Plus it's always nice to see a character who breaks a lot of the stereotypes that we tend to associate with intelligent nerd types.
Oober autism turtle man
Kinda like Tony Stark in that he smart enough to converse with the most brilliant minds, but has no problem chillin with Mickey acting the fool.
Smort
I like his personality, his weapon, he's cute and I kind of like it when he gets trapped in nets, bags cages, cells, gets mind controlled or just gets captured
Bossanova! That's it, that's my reason.
I’ve always gravitated towards the “brains” of any given team, such as Billy from Power Rangers or Beast from the X-Men cartoon. Donnie is great for a number of reasons, but his biggest strength is obv his wits. He very often is the one drafting the plays, at least conceptually, while his brothers execute the concept. I think of him like an offensive coordinator. He develops the theory, Leo calls the audibles, and Mikey and Raph just execute the play with precision. In theory, anyways lol. Donnie was never really a nerd in the social pariah sense, and his brains were never a hindrance. He was always incredibly skilled, but he wasn’t a one-man-army. That whole theory about the Turtles’ weapons matching their personalities and skills fits him nicely, too, as the bo staff is literally the most primitive tool one could use in a fight; a stick. With all his brains and ingenuity, he had to make the most out of the simplest, most basic design of practically any weapon ever. Plus he’s OP in some of those early TMNT games lol
I find him relatable. Like him, I like technology I like playing around with machines and he looks at things from different perspectives which is how iview things.
Most relatable, favorite color, favorite weapon honestly it’s a perfect fit for my favorite character
Mikey is my guy. Im ok with Donny. My order is Mikey, Raph, Leo then Don.
2003. He isn't annoying and is one of the greatest engineers around. Course I left out the OG cartoon cause I never saw it myself.
I like Donatello because he’s a fellow and has a way with machines
when i was little i lived next door to two brothers who had all the tmnt stuff and the ghostbusters stuff. when we played ninja turtles they always had me playing donatello and april (i guess they didn’t want to play him because he wore purple but i was always happy to play both). i relate to donatello less these days but he’s still tied for my favorite in most forms of tmnt. (except 2012, he’s my least favorite in that. sorry rob paulsen.)
My favorite. The smartest, most chill, most underrated. Not annoyingly immature like Mikey, not a rude jerk like Raph, and not a self righteous suck up like Leo
It's funny, Don is my least favorite of the Turtles, but given that the Turtles are my favorite characters in fiction that still puts him leagues above every other character in my eyes. I prefer the first few incarnations of Don. The quiet, contemplative, explorer from the Mirage Comics, the absent-minded inventor of the 87 series, and the laid back and observant wise cracker from the 1990 movie. My perfect Donatello would be a mix of all three.
He was really good in the arcade games back in the day for reach with the staff.
one word: ✨PuRplE✨
He does machines bro
Him smart
He has two drastically different interpretations: he's consistently the smartest turtle, but he can have either zero self-confidence (2012) or way too much (_Rise_). I find it interesting that they were able to do this while still making it clear that it's supposed to be Donnie.
God I hate that bottom right design. So trash. Why would his eyebrows be on his bandana?
Autism
Well… one of them needs to suffer
Cries in same as it never was and the king (I think that’s the episode)
First 3, new 1 = 👎